merlinman

What percent of my functional threshold (290W in my case) should I climb 5 minute hills and 1/2 hour hills in context of a long (6 hour) ride (assuming I am trying to finish as fast as possible) with multiple long hills at 6-8% grade? Note: I am not asking about how to improve my hill climbing technique or how to climb better. I am new to power meter training and useage and trying to understand how to use the power meter for hill climb pacing. For training I usually do hill repeats in the 320W range (10% over). On my weekly long ride days the hills are usually in the 275W range (95%). thanks!

NFields

Plese repost this on the road forum and see if we get a better response. I am anxious to learn from their responses too.

Thanks,
NFields

NomadVW 

If I'm racing.... as fast as the guy I'm with unless I feel really good and then faster.

If I'm training... well... it really depends on what you're trying to accomplish on them and how fit you are in terms of recovery. It also depends if that's going to be what the training session/ride is focusing on.

Example: I rode 5 hrs last Sunday that three good climbs and a handful of rollers. The point of the ride was a long upperL2-L3 day. 5 hrs at that intensity allows me to really give it a go on the climbs because I am still going to get decent recovery to hit the next hill. Short hills were Vo2 level, at least in the 110%+ range. 5 minute hills, at least @ bottom of Vo2max, 105%ish I'd guess. Long hills, 30 minutes, 95%-100% of threshold, maybe a little over but probably rarely out of L4.

If you're out for 6 hrs, the assumption is it's going to basically be L2 work with some L3 tossed in. Depending on how closely spaced the hills are, that's a lot of anaerobic recovery time in between climbs.

Carbonfiberboy 

Hey merlinman - our weekly group ride is a public ride tomorrow, published on the web only. 85 miles to Granite Falls and back. We're old, but we're fun. See cascade.org. Ask Kent who I am.

I don't have a powermeter. I just know it by feel and HR. On ride of that length, I try to climb the "long hills" at threshold until I can't do it any more. The short ones I just try not to blow up on. Of course around here, without getting into the mountains, there are very few climbs more than 15 minutes long. When I'm exhausted, I slow down and if I recover, I go back at it again. In that way I try to extend the ride length on which I can ride that hard. I divide the ride into thirds. The first third, I go as hard as I reasonably can. In the middle third I try to keep going about that hard. In the last third I go as hard as I can and still finish the ride.

I find that the challenge is usually not to avoid overcooking it, but rather to avoid undercooking it. This is in the context of a group ride, of course. Races are different and require tactics, so all that I say here is nonsense in that context. One of the rando guys who rides with us uses a powermeter. You could ask him if he's not off riding a Fleche or something.

merlinman

thanks for the input. I'm not racing but want to do my personal best on these long supported rides.

Carbonfiberboy - thanks for the info on the ride. BTW I am 50+ so old is good! I am 3 weekends away from being able to ride long on the weekends once my kids finish their tournaments. In meantime it is solo long ones on Fridays. I think I am pretty much doing what you and NomadVW describe. I'm signed up for some great hill rides this summer (Ramrod, Tour de Blast, Oly Cycling Classic). I tend to "overcook" it as you say, and using the power meter has helped me balance the effort.